#actually doodled some of these for merman yesterday but the;I was like | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jae-bummer · 5 years

Text

Take the Lead

Request: Hey! Could you write a college au with Dino from Seventeen? Maybe with coffee shop study sessions that turn into not-actually-studying study dates? Thanks! -🌺

Pairing: Seventeen’s Dino x Reader

Genre: Fluff

You glanced apprehensively to your lab partner, hearing his voice for the first time all semester.

“Your notes...?” he questioned again, slowly this time. He tilted his head to the side, emphasizing his request with the mere plea of his facial expression.

“Right,” you said slowly. “My notes.”

“From yesterday?” he trailed, now eying your binder.

You gnawed on your lip as you followed his focus, glancing down to your notes as well.

So you weren’t the best note taker, but your approach worked for you and that was what mattered. Doodles and different colors of ink decorated your page, emphasizing the sections you would pay the most attention to when you studied.

You tried to ignore the small and awkwardly photo realistic sketches of your professor as a merman.

“I can photo copy them...and bring them back for the next class?” he tried, looking up to your face again.

You brought your attention back up to him as well, continuing to chew on your lip. The last thing you needed were copies of this mess circulating the halls of your university.

“Or I can just...write everything down,” he hummed.

Yes, yes, that was much safer.

“Okay,” you said meekly, unclasping the rings of your notebook and sliding the pages over to him with a wince. “Sorry about all of...that.” You motioned vaguely to the paper.

“No, no,” he chuckled shyly. “You have to stay awake in this class somehow.”

You looked down to your hands in your lap and sighed. Chan, or as his friends called him, Dino, hadn’t been your first choice in lab partner. There wasn’t anything particularly wrong with him, you just didn’t know him. He was thin, toned, and conventionally handsome (if you were into dancer types....or well, men in general). He seemed kind and relatively quick at learning things. Somehow you had operated in the lab without speaking on most occasions, communicating based on body language alone.

He was a dance major and you were not, both of you in this class simply to fill an elective. He was shy, mostly quiet, but laughed loudly where his friends were concerned. You had seen him around campus a few times, and you were pretty sure he was also in your English class.

Overall, you didn’t have much to do with one another. And both of you seemed to have little issue with keeping it that way.

“Right,” you chuckled, letting an awkward silence last entirely too long between the two of you.

He nodded politely before tucking your pages in his notebook and looking up towards the professor’s lecture.

Glancing at Chan through your periphery as you did the same, you silently cursed at yourself. Could you be any more awkward?

In the following days, you had spent the better part of your time dwelling on all of the social missteps you took in your conversation with Chan. Your anxiety was hard at work with making you realize what an embarrassment you were, but nothing could make you feel any worse than what would happen in your next session.

“Thanks again,” Chan said with a tight smile as he slid your notes back toward you.

“No problem,” you sighed, giving the pages a quick glace before completely turning your attention to them. “Are...are these my notes?”

The paper you had turned over a few days ago was colorful enough, covered in various inks and designs, but this was completely different. Marring the blue and white lines was red ink. Everywhere.

“Sorry,” he hummed. “I took a few liberties of supplementing your notes with what I had read in the book and what I had heard from a study group I was in. By the time I realized what I had done...it looked like I stabbed your paper.”

“No kidding,” you hissed, glancing over the words. You could hardly see your own writing anymore, but quickly became preoccupied with Chan’s now covering the page.

“Some of the things you had...” he trailed, looking away from you with a blush on his face. “Were...uh...how should I say this?”

“Out with it,” you groaned, the annoyance of the whole situation prickling your skin.

“Inaccurate,” he said bluntly with a sad smile. “By not by a lot! Just small things here and there.”

That would explain your grade then.

You let your face fall into your hands and let out another groan. “I just can’t comprehend this stuff.”

“Have you thought about joining a study group?” Chan inquired. “I’ve been in one since the class started. I’m a dance major, so science isn’t necessarily-”

“Anatomy,” you muttered. “Science does help with dance. The way the muscles move and-”

“This is biology,” he hummed with a smile. You lifted your face and gave him a side eye. “I’m not sure what the life cycle of a banana slug is going to do for my modern dance final.”

“I haven’t thought about a study group,” you muttered finally. You didn’t feel like making a fool of yourself in front of multiple people.

“What about studying with me then?” he blurted, his cheeks instantly turning rosy with the suggestion.

“I don’t know,” you sighed. “I don’t want to burden you and you seem so busy...”

“So busy?” he chuckled. “Since when do you know my schedule?”

Okay, your turn to feel the tense heat of embarrassment begin to envelop your face.

“Meet me at the coffee shop by the student union,” he nodded. “We’ll go over these notes.”

All you could manage was a blank nod. “Right.”

You eased into an overly plush chair and began spreading out your books. He was late, or maybe you were a little too early. Fiddling with your pens nervously, you glanced around the small cafe. You had hardly spent any time here, except to run in and get the most energizing drink they could legally make for you.

Chewing on your lip, you glanced over the menu options. Maybe you could buy Chan a coffee to make up for him having to tutor you.

Study session, you mentally corrected yourself. That’s what he had called it.

“Hey,” Chan’s now familiar voice carried over the smooth jazz playing on the coffee shop’s speakers. He set down two cups on the table and smiled.

He was effortless. Even with his hair a mess and glances hiding his slim, angled face, he was handsome.

But you couldn’t think about that. You had to think about science.

And the fact that now, you couldn’t reward him with a coffee.

“I hope you don’t mind,” he hummed, sitting across from you. “I decided to get us both something while I was waiting.”

“I don’t mind at all,” you breathed, reaching toward the cup closest to you. “I did want to get your coffee today though...you know, payback for...this?”

“You have nothing to pay me back for,” he grinned. “We are the blind leading the blind, helping each other.”

“I think you may be a little more well versed in leading,” you sighed, looking over the notes he had written over yours.

“Maybe,” he chuckled, his cheeks turning pink again. For someone who was a trained dancer, you had assumed he didn’t mind a little flattery or attention pushed his way. Over the course of your brief interactions with him, it seemed to be the opposite. He was charmingly shy, and almost as embarrassed at the awkwardness of your interactions as you were. “You ready to get started?”

As the study sessions continued, so did the ease of your exchanges. It wasn’t long before the two of you had found a cadence in your meetings, finding yourselves in the coffee shop nearly every Saturday afternoon.

What had first began as uncomfortable hour-long blocks, slowly evolved into stretches of three to four hours, beginning with science, and ending with just about anything else. You grew to genuinely enjoy Chan’s company, and you had hoped that he grew to enjoy yours as well.

“Hey,” you greeted, stepping up to him as he waited for you outside of the cafe.

“Hey,” he grinned, readjusting his book bag on his shoulder.

“So today is photosynthesis or something?” you chuckled, reaching for the handle of the door. Just as you were about to pull it open, Chan’s hand found your wrist.

Looking up at him in surprise, there was a silent question on your face. Why?

“Uh...” he trailed, dropping your arm and instantly looking away. He ran a hand along the back of his neck before grimacing at the ground. “So I was thinking...”

“You don’t want to study with me anymore?” you croaked, your worst fears confirmed. It made sense. The semester would be winding to a close soon, so he wouldn’t need your assistance anymore. Any glimmer of hope you had to have been able to pursue a friendship...or something more...was snuffed out.

“Yes,” he sighed. “Well, no! Well, I don’t want to not study with you.”

“There were so many double negatives in that, I’m honestly not sure what the outcome was,” you sighed, crossing your arms.

“We can study for the classes we’re in together if you want,” he explained. “But I don’t want to just study with you.”

“You want to...?” you questioned, tilting your head.

“I want to go on dates with you too,” he nodded slowly. “In my head...these turned into study dates awhile ago...and I wasn’t sure how to transition it into...actual dates?”

“Actual...Actual dates?” you whispered, your eyes growing wide.

“I mean - if you don’t want to,” he quickly backpedaled. “We can just be study partners. We don’t have to like...hang out, and cuddle, or like hold hands or anything.”

“Is that what we’re to do on actual dates?” you chuckled, attempting to hide your amusement.

“I mean...I don’t know,” he grumbled. “I’m not good at this.”

“Sure you are,” you smiled. “You take the lead on most things, remember?”

“Not this,” he sighed. “Please quit torturing me. Would you like to go do something instead of study this afternoon?”

“I would love to,” you said, without letting a silence linger between the two of you. Chan’s shoulders immediately relaxed and a small smirk played across his mouth. “So where to?”

“No idea,” he grinned. “This is as far as I got in my head. If I thought any further, it would suck more when I got let down.”

“Did you seriously think I was going to say no?” you laughed.

“I don’t know,” he groaned. “It was a variable I wanted to prepare for.”

“If I said no, I assume our study sessions would become very awkward,” you teased. “And frankly, I can’t afford to fail this class.”

“Oh gee thanks,” he grinned, pointing with his chin to a miscellaneous spot in the distance. “Let’s get you a good grade then.”

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